According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, food stamp trafficking is illegal:

One of the most common forms of food stamp fraud, known as food stamp trafficking, involves the illegal buying or selling of food stamp benefits for cash, drugs, weapons or other items of value. Unlawful possession or use of food stamp benefits in an amount of $100 or more is a felony; less than $100 is a misdemeanor.

Yet many Twitter users openly discuss the purchase or sale of food stamps:

If you think the above tweets are isolated examples, take a look at the “Related Tweets” widget to the right of this post, above. In all likelihood, you will see many more Tweets discussing the purchase or sale of food stamps.

Meanwhile, David Wessel of the Wall Street Journal points us to a Congressional Budget Office analysis showing that one in seven Americans is now using food stamps:

http://twitter.com/#!/SheSoDamBadd/status/193011362992107520 Food stamps aren’t just a hot topic on Capitol Hill and among presidential candidates. They are also a much-discussed topic on Twitter. According to the […]